Container



March 9, 1937. R. J. POMEROY CONTAINER Filed March 26, 1934 l7zverzzor. Rey. JPam eroy Patented Mar. 9, 1937 PATENT OFFICE CONTAINER Roy JJomeroy, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application March 26,

9 Claims.

This invention relates generally to packages, and more especially to packages adapted particularly to contain liquids, as for instance motor oil. The present invention will be described with its specific use as an oil package or container chiefly in view, although it is to be understood this typification is for illustrative purposes only and constitutes no limitation on the invention in its broader aspects, it being evident that the package is also adapted to contain other liquids, as well as dry materials.

It is now common practice for automobile service stations to carry motor oil put up in sealed quart containers, which are opened and emptied into the automobile motor in view of the customer, the purpose of this practice being to assure the customer that he is receiving a full measure'of the 'specifiedoil. Containers that have been used for this purpose, however, have frequently been of such design that all of the oil did not drain out in the emptying process, and the customer accordingly has frequently received a short measure regardless of the precaution taken in providing individual packages.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a package particularly adapted to use in the vending of motor oil in small unit quantities, and designed to assure that the total contents of the package will be discharged in the emptying operation.

It is a. further object of the invention to provide a container having positive emptying characteristics, as mentioned above, and which is of such geometrical shape as will, first, present a novel and attractive appearance, and second, permit the packages to be packed or nested together Without wastage of space.

The novel shape of package provided by the present invention to accomplish these objects will best be left without preliminary description to be set forth in detail in the body of the specification.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a liquid container of the general character outlined above, which is particularly inexpensive to manufacture.

In accordance with this aspect of the present invention, the container is constructed of such a material as fiber or cardboard, lined with a liquid tight bag or lining. This lining preferably, especially where a somewhat porous cardboard is used, is of a nature to penetrate into the inner surfaces of the container, and also forms a surface layer which is somewhat flexible 55 and has a certain intrinsic tensile strength which 1934, Serial No. 717,376

renders it capable of filling or lying over and protecting breaks or openings in the cardboard. There is also incorporated in this lining a substance which renders the lining material insensible to attack by the substance which the package is to contain. The nature and manner of application of these lining substances will be set forth in detail in the body of the specification.

For the purpose of more particularly describing the nature of my invention I refer now to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an individual container in its preferred form;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the container of Fig. 1, showing the container within a carton designed to take a pair of such containers;

Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2, showing (in full elevation) one container fully within the cartonand a second complementary container being placed therein;

Fig. 4 is a sectiontaken on line 44 of Fig. 2, a portion of one container being broken away to show underlying parts in'section;

Fig. 4a is an enlarged detail of the container bottom, being an enlargement of the lower portion of Fig. 4;

Fig. 5 is a developed view of an individual container, showing how the material from which the container is to be made may be cut and folded to form the container of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a detail view of a modified arrangement at the apex of the container;

Fig. 7 shows the tip of the container severed for the purpose of emptying the contents of the container; and

Fig. 8 shows thecontainer being emptied into the crank case of an automobile engine.

In the preferred form of the present invention the containers are designed to be packed in pairs in rectangular cartons, and the general shape of such a pair of containers, in their preferred form herein specifically illustrated,- may perhaps be most simply described as a pair of complementary solid figures formed by passing a diagonal plane through diagonally opposite corners of a rectangular parallelopiped, in a manner to form two figures each of the shape illustrated in the perspective view of Fig. 1. In a broader sense, such a pair may be considered as formed .by passing'a plane diagonally from one end corner of a prism to a diagonally opposite end corner, so as to form the resulting solid figures with complementary interfittlng diagonal faces; and it will be seen that the invention is therefore not necessarily limited to a pair of containers formed by so dividing a rectangular parallelepiped, but includes any pair of containers formed by so dividing any prism on a diagonal plane to form complementary inteifltting faces, and that such a pair may likewise be packed in a single carton of the shape of the prism before division. As will be seen from the figures, however, the specific shape of the complementary pair of containers of the drawing, which is the present preferred form, is formed by a dividing plane passed between diagonally opposite end corners of a rectangular parallelopiped. An individual container then comprises four vertical side walls II, l2, l3 and I, a bottom wall 15, and a diagonal side It passing through one bottom corner 11, thence intersecting the pairs of side walls II, I! and l3, M in succession, and finally passing through upper corner i8. Although the proportions of the box may obviously be varied, I prefer, for the purpose of an oil container, to form the container with sides of equal width at the base, and with a total height approximately two and three quarters the width of a side.

I prefer to form the container from two pieces of cardboard, that shown in Fig. 5 providing the entire container with the exception of the bottom, which for reasons of economy of material is best formed separately. As will be seen, the sides i I, i3, i4 and I! are laid out adjacent one another, together forming an isosceles triangle. The diagonal side l6 of the container may then be made up in two parts, 16a and IE1), the former being attached adjacent the upper diagonal edge of side it, and the latter being attached adjacent the diagonal edge of side H. When folded on the dotted lines indicated on the figure, the cardboard forms into the figure shown in perspective in Fig. 1. The upper diagonal edge of side 13 is formed with a tab 20 over which diagonal wall portion I6a. is folded and glued down. The other diagonal wall portion lBb is then folded across so that its upper edge lies in overlapping relation with a tab 2| formed on the lower edge of wall portion 16a, to which it is glued, and a tab 22 on the remaining free edge of wall portion lBb is then inserted under and glued to the diagonal edge of side wall l2, all as will be clear from an inspection of Figs. 1 and 5.

The container (still bottomless) thus formed into the shape shown in Fig. 1 from the cardboard cut and folded as in Fig. 5, is particularly economical of material, it being obvious that the form as shown in Fig. 5 can be cut from a large sheet of paper with comparatively small wastage. A bottom for the box could obviously be provided integral with the cardboard shown in Fig. 5, as for instance by attaching it at the lower edge of either of sides ll, l2, l3 or H; this, however, would greatly decrease the number of container forms which could be cut from a sheet of cardboard of given size, and it is accordingly preferred to form the container bottoms separately. Figs. 4 and 4a show that the container bottom is made up of a bottom wall i5 and marginal flanges 25 of such size as to fit and be glued within the lower edges of the container side walls, in the manner clearly shownin the drawing.

The solid figure as so formed thus comprises a diamond shaped diagonal surface l8, triangular side walls I l and I2, and trapezoidal side walls I3 and II. It will be noticed that the upper end of the container is comprised of three plane surfaces meeting edge to edge and converging upwardly to form an acute pyramidal apex. The

acuteness of this apex of course depends upon the relation of the height of the container to width of its face, and it is within the broader scope of my invention to form. the container with any desired relation between these dimensions; for the purpose of an oil dispensing container, however, I prefer to provide a comparatively acute apex, and for this purpose choose a ratio of height of container to width of between two and three to one, preferably approximately two and three quarters to one. The practical advantages of the resulting shape and proportions will appear hereinafter.

As previously mentioned, two such containers as shown in Fig. l are packaged together in a single rectangular carton. The shape of the container is such that a pair of containers placed with their complementary diagonal or diamond shaped surfaces l6 in contact, in the manner indicated in Figs. 3 and 4, form together a rectangular parallelopiped, and a pair of the containers so placed are accordingly conveniently packaged in a single carton of that form. Thus two of the containers in and Na are shown being fitted into such a carton 26 in Fig. 3; and Fig. 4 is a view showing the containers in place in the carton, which in this view is shown provided with a removable cover 21.

The liquid tight lining for the container is in the nature of a somewhat elastic inner lining or bag, and is of a substance adapted or treated to resist attack by the liquid, or other substance, to be contained. This lining preferably is coated on and is of a nature to impregnate the inner surfaces of the container walls. The bag or lining is also of a substance which is tenacious and relatively strong under tensile stress, so that it will fill up and adequately protect anypossible small cracks or openings in the container.

Such a lining, for the purpose of containing petroleum oil, may be prepared as follows: I take cellulose, which may be obtained in the form of a commercial cellulose lacquer (either cellulose nitrate or cellulose acetate lacquer, for instance), and this is dissolved or thinned with a. suitable solvent such as acetone. Certain petroleum oil resistant substances such as shellac or other gums, and castor oil, which are insoluble in petroleum derivatives, are then added. The use of a small proportion of castor oil is desirable since it increases the plasticity of the lining substance. The shellac is highly oil resistant and also serves to give body to the lining substance, while the cellulose adds to the plasticity and elasticity of the composition.

The substance may be made up in the following proportions:

Commercial cellulose 1 liter Castor oil 50 cc. Shellac 200 g. Denatured alcohol 500cc. Acetone 500 cc.

firmly to the paper, and also increases the viscosity of the solution. The use of aluminum powder decreases the quantity of cellulose required. or, instead of aluminum powder, I may use for the same purpose litharge, or any suitable inert powdered pigment such as barium sulphate for instance.

The solution as thus prepared is then coated on the inner surfaces of the container to form'a lining layer 28 (see Fig. 4) and this may be done in any suitable or desired manner, as for instance by spraying, or by filling the container with the solution and then draining out. This coating operation may be carried out, if desired, before the container bottom is put on, in which case the bottom itself would of course be separately treated or, if the coating is to be done after the bottom is placed on the container, the bottom may be provided with an opening 30 through which the coating material may be introduced to come into contact with the interior surfaces of the container, and then be drained out. In this case the same opening 30 will serve as an opening through which the container may subsequently be filled with the motor oil, the opening finally being sealed by means of a disk 3i glued and sealed on the container bottom over the opening. As an alternative (see Fig. 6), the container maybe formed with a blunt open end 34, instead of with the pointed apex, and the coating and subsequent filling with oil may be accomplished through the opening thus provided. This opening is then closed by a pointed cap 35, which overlaps and is glued to the side walls of the container below opening 34, as indicated in Fig. 6, and continues the converging side walls upwardly to a pointed tip 36.

The thickness of the lining coat and also the degree of penetration of the lining substance into the walls of the container depends upon the viscosity of the lining solution; the thinner the solution the more it impregnates, and the thicker the solution the heavier the resulting coating. By making the solution of the proper viscosity, it penetrates to some extent and also forms a coating layer on the surface which is sumciently tenacious to fill up and protect any small cracks or openings in the container walls. Thus the solution may be applied in one coating as an impregnation and tenacious and elastic surface layer. In other cases, where an even more substantial lining is desired, I may apply the solution twice, once as a thin solution to impregnate the walls of the container, which may be done to the paper before the container is formed, and second, after formation of the container, as a thick solution to form the elastic inner lining layer or bag.

The container is thus made liquid tight. The coating on the inner surface of the container walls holds the liquid in, and is of a nature to resist solution in or attack by the liquid to be contained. In the preferred form of the invention, the liquid tight lining is of such thickness as to constitute what may be considered as a physical liquid-tight bag, which adheres to the inner surfaces of the container, and which is of such thickness as to constitute a physical wall sumciently elastic and strong to overlie and pro tect any cracks or small openings in the container.

After the container is completed,-and the lining coating has been given a sufficient time to dry, the container may befilled with oil, or whatever other substance it is to contain (either liquid is cut 08 with any suitable cutting device, as at' 31 in Fig. 7, and the container may then be inverted and emptied. To enable the oil to run freely from the container, it is desirable after the container has been inverted to punch a suit able air inlet opening in its bottom. In Fig. 8. the container is shown being emptied directly into the crank case of a motor 40. It will be obvious that due to the converging side walls which lead directly to the emptying opening. there is positive assurance that all of the oil contained will be discharged.

The preferred liquid tight lining is formed of the constituents described hereinabove but linings of similar essential physical properties may be formed of certain other combinations of materials, any of which are considered as lying within the broad scope of my invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A container embodying a rectangular, horizontal bottom, plane side walls rising from each of the four edges of said bottom,'and another side wall formed in a plane at an acute angle to the container bottom and passing through one corner of said bottom and thence first intersecting the two side walls adjacent said corner and then intersecting the other two side walls, thereby forming the container with an acute pyramidal apex.

2. A container embodying a rectangular, horizontal bottom, plane side walls rising from each of the four edges of said bottom, and another side wall formed in a plane at an acute angle to the container bottom and passing through one comer of said bottom and thence first intersecting the two side walls adjacent said corner and then intersecting the other two side walls, said plane being at right angles to a vertical plane which passes through'said bottom corner and through the diagonally opposite corner, thereby forming the container with an acute pyramidal apex.

3. A container embodying a square, horizontal bottom, plane side walls rising from each of the four edges of said bottom, and another side wall formed in a plane at an acute angle to the container bottom and passing through one corner .4 of said bottom and thence first intersecting the two side walls adjacent said corner and then intersecting the other two side walls, thereby forming the container with an. acute pyramidal apex.

4. A container embodying a square, horizontal bottom, plane side walls rising from each of the four edges of said bottom, and another side wall formed in a plane at an acute angle to the container bottom and passing through one corner of said bottom and thence first intersecting the two side walls adjacent said corner and then intersecting the other two side walls, said plane being at right angles to a vertical plane which passes through said bottom corner and through the diagonally opposite corner, thereby forming the container with an acute pyramidal apex.

5. The combination of a prism shaped carton, and two inner containers filling said carton, said containers having complementary interfitting faces, both of which are formed on a plane extending from one end corner of the carton to a diagonally opposite corner at the other end or the carton.

6. The combination of two containers adapted to fit together to form a prism, said containers having complementary interfitting faces. both or which are formed on a plane extending from one end corner of the prism to a diagonally opposite corner at the other end of the prism.

7. The combination of a carton in the shape of a parallelopiped, and two inner containers filling said carton, said containers having complementary interfitting races, both of which are formed on a plane extending from one end corner 01' the parallelepiped to a diagonally opposite corner at the other end of the parallelepiped.

8. The combination of two containers adapted to fit together to form a parallelepiped, said containers having complementary inter-fitting faces,

ammo

bothotwhicharetormedonaplaneextending from one end corner of the parallelopiped to a diagonally opposite corner at the other end oi. the parallelepiped. 4

9. A container embodying a four sided horiaontal bottom, plane side walls rising from each of the four edges 01' said bottom, and a diagonal wall formed in a plane at an acute angle to the container bottom and passing upwardly first through the corner formed by the meeting edges of two adjacent side walls and thence intersecting first said two side walls and then the other two side walls, thereby providing the container with an acute pyramidal apex formed at the intersection oi said diagonal plane with the comer formed by the meeting edges of the last mentioned two side walls.

ROY J. POMEROY. 

